LAGOS State House of Assembly on Monday, January 13, impeached its Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office.
Mojisola Miranda, the representative for Apapa 1, was swiftly sworn in as the new Speaker, making history as the first female Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Obasa’s removal came after years of allegations, including accusations of fraud, political thuggery, and corruption.
In 2020, Punch Newspaper reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) grilled Obasa over claims of diverting public funds into his personal companies and bank accounts.
Although the EFCC did not file charges after questioning him, the investigations heightened concerns about his leadership.
A few months before, the Speaker appeared before the House panel to respond to the corruption allegations against him.
While he denied many of the claims, he confirmed that N80 million was approved as estacode for the training of the wives of 20 lawmakers in Dubai.
“We gave N4 million to each of the participants for air tickets, hotels, feedings and local travel. Air ticket to Dubai alone costs about N2 million. Some of these allegations were raised for a crusade to get the Speaker out of office.
“The House of Assembly is above (the) common standard of excellence and we have to train people, and this comes at a cost. Learning is not cheap and I have never collected N80 million for estacode at a go before,” he said.
He was, however, subsequently cleared by the House committee.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M